Louisville’s Doss Dragons reaches State Championship Game

The Doss Dragons received a team effort in the semi-finals of the Whitaker Bank/KHSAA boys Sweet 16 Saturday night as they defeated the South Laurel Cardinals 70-63 before a Rupp Arena crowd of 10,917 to advance Sunday’s 2pm State Championship Game.

South Laurel (28-7) led majority of the game, jumping out to an early 12-4 lead over Doss with 3:24 remaining in the first quarter. Caleb Taylor was big for the Cardinals in the game finishing with a double/double 12 points and 10 rebounds in the defeat to Doss (30-5).

Doss got back in the game after Kenyi Bryant’s 3 pointer at the 6:30 mark in the first half pulled the Dragons to within five points 19-14. It wasn’t until after a sophomore point guard Stephon Franklin’s layup before the half would tie the score at 24 points each. However, the Dragons went into the locker room trailing the Cardinals of South Laurel 35-29.

After the half, Doss used a three-point barrage with three straight from behind the arch from Stephon Franklin, Kenyi Bryant, and Nick Anderson to give the Dragons its first lead of the ball game 42-39 with less than 4 minutes remaining in the third quarter. South Laurel would respond with a run of their own to lead the Dragons by one at the end of the third quarter 47-46.

In the fourth quarter both teams started out rocky being careless with the basketball trading turnovers on ensuing possessions. South Laurel appeared to have the game under control after Jared Grubb’s three-point shot gave the Cardinals a 56-51 lead with 4:36 left in the game. Doss wouldn’t go away, Kel’Shawn Knight Goff’s putback at the 3:27 mark with pull Doss within two 58-56.

South Laurel’s Big man Caleb Taylor would pick up his 5th foul at the 1:47 mark after fouling Doss senior forward Laron Hargrove. Hargrove would score the Dragons next four points giving them a 63-61 lead with 1:13 left in the game. South Laurel would force up a three that missed on their next possession and foul Jaylon Hall with 21.6 seconds remaining in the game. Over the course of the last 21 seconds Hall would sink five big free throws for a final score of 70-63.

Doss will face No. 1 Paul Dunbar out of Lexington in Sunday’s 2pm ET Championship game tomorrow. This is the first Louisville vs. Lexington boys final since 2001 when Lafayette defeated the Male Bulldogs.